


Keep Your Promises

by whoneedsapublisher



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Adult Nico and Maki, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-26 23:57:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9934844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoneedsapublisher/pseuds/whoneedsapublisher
Summary: Ten years ago, Nico, clinging to a crush she was too afraid to act on, made a promise to Maki. Now it was finally time to make good on it.





	

_For god’s sake, Nico, just press the damn button._

Nico Yazawa, famous entertainer, former winner of Love Live and top ranked idol for a record long streak, stood staring at a buzzer next to an apartment door, willing herself to push it. The road to her current position had not been a smooth one. To succeed, she’d had to take risks, work herself to the bone, and be willing to go out out there and go for it. She’d forged onwards then, _so why couldn’t she just press this buzzer already?!_

Barely managing to suppress a scream of frustration, Nico pressed her forehead into the cool metal above the panel. Why was this so hard? It wasn’t like she was a complete stranger. Okay, so they hadn’t really been close for years, but Maki surely still remembered her. It wasn’t like Nico never spoke to her, but they were both busy.

What if Maki didn’t remember their promise? Or what if she didn’t think Nico had remembered? Or if she just assumed Nico wouldn’t go through with it? For that matter, why _was_ she going through with it? Was she really making life plans based on a stupid promise she’d made ten years ago? As a highschooler trying to make her underclassman feel better about her leaving? This was dumb. Maybe she should just leave and forget about the whole thing.

Of course, she couldn’t manage to do that either. And so here she was for minute fifteen of desperately trying to either ring the bell or leave.

She supposed it was sort of appropriate in a twisted way. After all, what was this promise if not her inability to commit or withdraw ten years ago? Unable to bring herself to confess, but unwilling to let Maki slip away completely, she’d run her mouth, and then her stupid brain hadn’t had the common decency to let her forget about it and move on.

It didn’t even make sense. With how busy they’d been, they’d drifted apart anyway. Nico hadn’t even seen Maki in person in years, and most of the occasional communication they had was by text, so it had been a while since she’d even heard her voice. Maki could be totally different now. The spark might have completely gone. It was just a silly teenage crush, after all. Okay, admittedly Nico was pretty sure about her sexuality, so it hadn’t been the fabled “phase” that so many people seemed to think accounted for all teenage lesbians on the planet, but that didn’t mean she was still into _Maki_ so much as into women in general.

Right, fine, it was settled then. She was going to ring this doorbell, say “Hey remember that promise ten years ago?” and then _not_ reveal her ancient crush and just use it as an excuse to catch up with an old friend. Then she’d go out to a bar and pick up someone who she knew she was attracted to _currently_ rather than when she was a hormone riddled teen.

With this new, much less intimidating prospect in mind, Nico confidently reached out to press the buzzer and almost got to the point of touching it before she froze up and had to use her other arm to force her finger onto the button. Oh well, she’d rung it anyway, good enough.

There was a faint ringing from inside the apartment followed by silence. Oh god, what if Maki wasn’t even home? That’d make her look like a complete idiot, standing here for a quarter of an hour to ring the bell and not even getting a response. What on earth would she say to the doorman then? “Oh, she wasn’t home, but it took me fifteen minutes to figure that out because I’m a moron. I swear I didn’t break in or anything!” Right, that sounded plausible. She could see the headlines now: “From Superstar to Sneak-thief: The Nico Yazawa story”.

No, she was being silly, the doorman would know if Maki was home, he wouldn’t have let her up if Maki was out. She pressed the bell again nervously, and finally from within she heard a familiar voice call out “Sorry, sorry, I’ll be there in a minute!” followed by some shuffling.

Significantly longer than a minute later, although it felt like an eternity, Maki opened the door. “Hi, sorry about th- Nico?”

Nico didn’t respond immediately, just staring. Maki certainly didn’t look like the girl she remembered. For one thing, Nico was damn sure she remembered Maki being sort of adorably childish looking in some ways, just like a cute junior should be. The Maki standing in front of her was anything but childish. Which was, totally unfair, like, what? She was wearing a casual outfit with a loose shirt and some trousers, how did she look so elegant? What kind of crazy dark magic was she casting on Nico’s innocent idol eyes to give off the impression of mature, sexy elegance that Nico would have normally associated with a slinky black dress, when she was wearing an oversized shirt with a tomato stain on the sleeve?

Nico hadn’t exactly dressed to kill, but she’d worn something nice, and now she was feeling like a kid dressed in their Sunday best being effortlessly blown away by a teacher chaperoning them. This was _not fair._

And it didn’t end with Maki’s mystical ability to look elegant, she also seemed to have gotten _even taller,_ completely cancelling out the height gain that Nico had been so proud of since they’d last met. Apparently, she’d gained this height via an extended visit to the rack, because Maki was also impossibly slender looking and _god_ you could tell she was a pianist, those fingers were just as slender and _criminally_ good looking.

She was even wearing reading glasses, which, apparently, was now something that Nico found hot? _This is not the right time to discover these things about yourself, Nico!_ She thought frantically. _Say something say something say somethi-_

“Hi Maki!” Nico managed, in a voice that was way too much like a squeak. “So, remember that promise ten years ago?” Okay, whatever, plan was proceeding! Focus on her face and not her stupid hot body.

Maki looked shocked and raised a hand to her mouth. “… I can’t believe you remembered.” she said, smiling. “I always figured you just said that to make me feel better. I was considering calling you today, but I thought you wouldn’t want to be bothered by my old memories, so I was just watching some old videos of μs and reminiscing.” She raised an eyebrow. “So, wait, if you’re here in person, does that mean you’re going to make good on it?”

Nico, desperately stalling for time, put a finger to her chin and pretended to ponder. “Hmmmm, I don’t know… I’m _pretty sure_ I promised to tell you if you became a big successful doctor. You don’t look a lot like a doctor, Maki.”

Maki laughed. “And I’m pretty sure you also said you’d be a big famous idol, but you look a lot like… well, maybe you don’t look _that_ much like the little shorty I knew.” Maki admitted, turning faintly pink. Well, it was nice to know that Nico wasn’t the only one surprised by how the other had changed. “But famous idol?”  
  
Nico grinned smugly and reached into her bag, pulling out an idol magazine with her on the cover and holding up one hand to match the pose. “Ah, but Maki, I have proof!”

Maki laughed again and raised her hands. “Alright, alright, you got me. One minute.” she closed the door and Nico heard more rustling as she clutched her chest and took a deep breath. Jesus, how could Maki be so casual when it was taking all Nico had to keep up this act? She always had been the more excitable one, she supposed, but still!

Soon enough, the door opened again, and Nico hoped it wasn’t obvious how much she was staring. Maki, apparently deciding that Nico wasn’t having a hard enough time keeping her composure, had changed into a black dress that was the professional equivalent of the slinky number that Nico had been envisioning earlier. It was accompanied by a white lab coat, a stethoscope, a clipboard, and another sinking realisation that Nico had discovered something she found way hotter than she should. _First glasses, now lab coats? Am I just chronically attracted to complete nerds?_

Turning the clipboard to face Nico, Maki revealed a newspaper with a picture of her tending to a patient, with the headline. “Local Doctor Wins Practitioner of the Year”. “So here’s my evidence.” she said, smirking. “Now, where’s my secret?”  
  
“I was in love with you in highschool and I’m actually incredibly attracted to you right now too, please date me.” Nico blurted out, then clapped her hands over her mouth.

 _Holy shit, Nico. It was a two step plan. Remind her about the promise and then DON’T tell her that you were in love with her. How did you fuck that up? No, forget that, how did you fuck it up so badly that you confessed you’re still into her?_ Nico thought in horror as she warily watched Maki’s stunned face for her reaction to the fact that Nico had just _confessed to her_.

Tears started welling up in Maki’s eyes as she punched Nico in the shoulder and started to laugh. “You idiot! Why didn’t you just say that ten years ago instead of this stupid promise?!” she choked out, half-sobbing, before locking Nico in a tight hug. “I liked you back then too. And you’re not bad looking yourself these days.”

Nico stood stunned, too surprised to even return the hug, as Maki pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes. “God, you’re so dumb. Come inside and I’ll make you some tea. Then… we can figure out when to have our first date. I know the perfect restaurant.”

Dumbfounded, Nico let herself be lead inside, a smile starting to spread onto her face.

* * *

“Heyyyyy, Makiiii. Maki, stop looking at me like that, it’ll be okay.”  
  
“How is it going to be okay?! You’re leaving to go be an idol and I don’t even know if I’ll ever see you again!”

“You have my number! I’ll give you my address once I get settled down, and we can send letters and-”

“That’s not the same, Nico! You know it’s not!”

“… look, I’ll make you a promise.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“The great Nico Nii has a secret she’s never~ told~ anyone~! In ten years, when I’m a _marvellously_ famous and successful idol, as I obviously will be, if you’re a big-shot successful doctor, I’ll come see you and tell you Nico’s biggest, most juicy secret, okay?”  
  
“… You better be serious.”  
  
“I am serious.”

“If you forget, I’m going to track you down, Nico.”  
  
“… It’s a little scary that I believe that.”

“Well you _should_ believe it. … You really promise?”

“I really promise, Maki.”

“… Okay.”


End file.
